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CHAPTER XXXVI: Maria

Add the salt and stock, or cream, and cook five minutes longer.-MARIA PARLOA.

Split-Pea Soup. 1 cupful split peas, 1½ quarts stock, 1 teaspoonful salt, 2 tablespoonfuls minced onion, 3 tablespoonfuls chopped celery, 1 carrot.

Place a saucepan with split peas and stock over the fire; when it boils, add salt, onion, celery, and carrot; cover, and boil slowly until done; press the soup through the sieve; if too thick, add a little more water, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with small squares of fried bread.

Green-Pea Soup. 1 quart shelled peas, 3 pints water, 1 quart milk, 1 onion, 2 tablespoonfuls butter, 1 tablespoonful flour, 3 level teaspoonfuls salt, teaspoonful pepper.

Put the peas in a stewpan with the boiling water and onion, and cook until tender, which will be about half an hour. Pour off the water, saving for use later. Mash the peas fine, then add the water in which they were boiled, and rub through a purée sieve. Return to the saucepan, add flour and butter, beaten together, and the salt and pepper. Now gradually add the milk, which must be boiling hot. Beat well and cook ten minutes, stirring frequently.-MARIA PARLOA.

SOUPS Winter Okra Soup (a New Orleans recipe). 1 can okra, 1 can tomatoes, 2 onions, 2 tablespoonfuls butter, 1 dozen oysters, 3 tablespoonfuls rice, 1 red pepper pod without the seeds.

Chop the onions and fry them in the butter. Wash the rice well, stew the onions, tomatoes, and pepper together in about 3 quarts water and 1 pint oyster water for about three hours, stirring frequently. Ten minutes before serving, add the okra and let it come to a boil. Then drop in the oysters, boil up once, and serve.